Thursday, May 25, 2006

The Cupcake Cafe (Flatiron location)
18 West 18th Street
New York, NY

Blognut's last visit to The Cupcake Cafe (Hell's Kitchen location) was met with a limited, yet satisfying selection - the only donuts they had left were the Buttermilk Plain Cakes. We return today in hopes of trying some of their more eclectic flavors, in particular, their monstrous Sweet Potato Glazed.

6:15 PM - Blognut steps into The Cupcake Cafe taking refuge from the dusty, construction-laden mess that is 18th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The scene brings immediate disappoinment - the glass cake plate normally housing the Sweet Potato donuts sits empty. We confirm with the Donut/Cupcake Man that he isn't hiding any in the back - "Sorry sir, we didn't make any today," he says, with what I think is a Scottish accent. Despite the bad news, this trip to the Cafe is still a success. We score two old fashioned cake donuts - a pumpkin spice and a chocolate. As we leave, we get a hearty "Cheers" from the Scottish Donut Man.

The best part about The Cupcake Cafe's donuts is their subtleness. These dense, great-for-dunking cake creations have only a hint of sweetness, which can come as quite a shock to sugar-seeking donut eaters. The Pumpkin Spice tasted more like a scone than a donut while the chocolate resembled cocoa powder in flavor (this is a good thing - we promise). In this era of overly sweetened Pop-Nuts drowned in glistening glaze, both of our donuts were a refreshing change.

Blognut ate only half of each donut, setting aside the rest for tomorrow morning's dunking.

Donut Scores: non-dunked/dunked

Pumpkin Spice - 7.5/8.0
Chocolate - 7.5/8.0

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